Lukes Grand Adventure
by wrong light
Summary: what if Luke wasn't such a brat.what if having been locked inside all his life made him want to see the world 4 himself.watch as luke's curiosity about life changes the story. possible lukeXtear or lukeXnatalia romance, definite lukeionanise friendship.
1. start!

**Luke's Grand Adventure.**

**Chapter one: life is boring in a cage. **

In a dark room, the edges of which are hidden in shadows, a girl stands in front of a glowing crest on the floor. She wears a dark brown high collard dress that has a military air about it.

Her long gray-brown hair falls forward to cover one crystal blue eye as she stares at the intricate blue lines of the glyph on the ground in front of her. She stands there deep in thought until, in the still, cool, air of the dark chamber, it becomes uncertain if she has been standing there for hours or just seconds.

Suddenly as if alerted by a signal only she can hear her head snaps up and her eyes refocus on the room around her. Slowly almost delicately, she walks forward as words leave her at barely a whisper.

"It's time"

She walks into the soft glow of the crest and as she reaches the center, she turns to look back the way she came.

"Prepare."

The word sounds almost like a farewell as she says it. Even as the last sounds of speech echo around the dark room, the glow from the floor flares to brilliance, and in a flash of blue-white light the girl with the blue eyes is gone.

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_Batical, the Capital of Light_

_Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear_

_Remday, Rem-decan 23, ND2018_

Batical, a city which rose from the ground to reach hundreds of feet into the air. A city where thousands of people worked, lived, slept and played on the many plateaus, bridges and terraces the city was built on. A city so grand so wondrous it had been dubbed the 'capital of light'.

That's where he was, right there in the middle of all that. He was in fact on top of it, right on the highest shelf in the whole city, from which it was said you could see for miles and miles in all directions.

He had so far seen absolutely none of it, and, he reminded himself as he stared out the window at the fonstones floating through the sky, he wasn't going to for more than three years. Luke sighed and closed his eyes in attempt to banish that un wanted train of thought as he tuned away from the fonstones. Thinking about what was out there wouldn't help, it would however make him feel even worse about being stuck in the manor, but what to do to keep himself busy?

Another sigh.

He knew exactly what he was going to do, it was the same thing he always did when he felt like this. Brushing golden red bangs out of his eyes, Luke started for the door, quickly checking to make sure that his clothing was acceptable, his black pants where slightly wrinkled but that was ok and his white swallow tail coat was as crisp as when he had put it on. A quick check in the mirror to make sure his long red hair wasn't caught in his sword belt, (he had done that once and received a long talk from the princes about how nobility should take pride in there dress) and he was ready to head out the door into the courtyard.

Or at least he would have if it wasn't for an odd noise. It was a sort of warbling whistle. Looking around he could not find anything responsible for the noise.

"I must be hearing things" he said it out loud as a sort of admission, it wouldn't have been the first time he had heard something no-one else had and at least this time it wasn't accompanied buy the usual headache. He quickly completed the journey to the door that his hallucination had so rudely interrupted and left. It was time to go chat with Pere and annoy the Fon Fobre family butler.

'It's a beautiful day' Luke thought as he crossed the court yard. 'how boring'. Luke liked rainy days. He liked them simply because they where different. As he neared the far side of the yard he noticed one of the maids, the one with shoulder length blond hair, polishing one of the cast iron benches that lined the area and called out a greeting as he approached. She turned and they chatted for a bit. Before he excused himself and entered the hall.

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Myarl was hard at work just as she was every day. Someone had to support mother. Mother was sickly and if Myarl didn't work there would be no way to pay the doctors bill. Because of this she took pride in her work, she was good at it, and her efforts were getting her noticed by the head made. As much as she enjoyed her work, it was to be honest quite boring. Myarl often made up for this boredom by daydreaming. She would daydream about being an adventurous fonist who traveled the countryside helping people and saving villages from monsters.

That's when Myarl caught herself and started scrubbing vigorously at the rust spot she was working on. What was she thinking, even if she had talent as a fonist (and she was almost certain that she didn't) she could never just leave mother like that. And so giving up on being a hero of the people Myarl turned instead to her favorite fantasy. The one in which the young master of the house, Luke would confess his undying love for her and sweep her off her feet in a whirlwind romance. She had just reached the part where he asked her to marry him when disaster struck.

"Good morning!"

Hearing his voice the young made spun round and greeted Luke with a stutter.

"G-good morning S-sir Luke." She blushed as she said it hoping to Yulia he wouldn't notice. She felt like she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar and cast around quickly for something to say.

"Love-lovely weather again to day, isn't it." Mentally she cursed herself for a fool. Talking about the weather… now she sounded just like some air head. His response made her feel even worse

"Yeah, I noticed."

"Just as the Order of Loreli's score predicted." She tried again. Ugh! That sounded just as bad! She needed to say something intelligent something to make him notice her. "The fonestones in the sky are shinning as beautifully as ever." Just as she was wishing she could sink into the ground and disappear he… he smiled at her.

"They really are aren't they?" he said looking up at the floating rocks. Then still smiling he wished her a good day and went on his way, and Myarl, once again lost in thought about the young duke sweeping her sweeping her off her feet proceeded to work the rest of the day in a sort of delighted daze.

The entry hall was a crowded place, not with people but with junk. Not that Luke would say that aloud, he knew the weapons and banners that lined the walls where important. That they where mementos from wars long fought and enemies long ago defeated. He knew that each one had a story behind it, a story that if asked about father would know by hart and happily told in detail.

There were however, in Luke's opinion far too many of them. Rows and rows of helmets, battle flags, swords and shields cluttered the walls, there was even a cannon sitting between the rooms two support pillars. That's what made it junk. It was everywhere and made the room feel like a museum.

If the entry hall were a museum Ramdas would have undoubtedly been its curator. The ageing butler was always hanging about the place, making sure everything was in perfect order and even more perfect condition. He was known to yell at minor lords for touching the collection when they visited and he certainly was not above scolding Luke.

So when Luke saw Ramdas heading his way, with the solemn tight-lipped expression that meant some one had "committed an act unbefitting the Fon Fobre house hold." And was going to be chewed out, he decided that perhaps this wouldn't be the best time to pester the man. Instead, Luke tried to slip quietly out the door he had just entered

"Young master."

Damn! He had been spotted! Luke turned, trying his best to look innocent. He didn't know what had Ramdas' knickers in a bunch, but it was probably… well almost certainly Luke's fault.

"Good morning Ramdas, how are you today." It was best to gage exactly _how_ ticked off the man was before Luke pressed his luck with 'that impertinent manner of speech'.

"The Order of Lorelei Maestro, Dorian-General Grants will be arriving soon." Ramdas said as he strode over to where Luke was standing. Luke felt relief flood through him. If the butler wasn't angry at him then… wait a tick… 'Dorian-General Grants? ' master Van was coming? That did not make sense. Today was _not_ a training day luke knew that much, he decided to ask about it.

"What? Master Van is coming. Today's not a training day." Ramdas nodded sagely at that as if Luke had voiced some great new philosophical point. That's why Luke liked ticking him off, he was always so serious.

"yes." The older of the two breathed, still nodding. "I've heard he's here on urgent business. I was told they would be calling on you later young master." Luke felt one of his eyebrows twitch in annoyance.

"Stop calling me young already!" he had to resist the urge to slap a hand over his mouth. There was NO way he was going to avoid one of Ramdas' short but incredibly irksome lectures now.

"no." sure enough here it came. " until you reach the age of maturity at age twenty I shall continue to call you young master." Luke once again resisted an urge this time it was eye rolling. All that would get him was a pleasant little rant on 'uncouth expressions.'

"Fine" Luke said as he turned to leave. However, the butler wasn't finished yet. Just as the 'young master' was reaching for the doorknob, he spoke up.

"Young master…" as the butler couldn't see his face at the moment Luke made a point of _not_ resisting the urge to roll his eyes before turning to look back over his shoulder. Seeing he had Luke's attention, the man continued. "Please stop fraternizing with that gardener Pere. It is un becoming of one of your status."

Luke raised an eyebrow at that, a butler giving advice to a noble about stepping out of his station. It was a mite hypocritical at the least. Knowing better then to point that out Luke settled for a curt nod before exiting the hall.

Back out in the courtyard Luke cast about for something to kill the time. Ah! There! Pere was busy weeding the flowerbed by Luke's room. That was perfect, he could kill a few minutes and accomplish his original goal of annoying Ramdas at the same time. He quickly crossed the distance to the ageing Gardner.

"Hey, Pere!" Luke called, as he got closer. Pere looked up and after realizing who it was that was talking to him, smiled"

"Ah Master Luke, a fine day isn't it?"

"Ah hnn" Look said dismissively. "Still digging around in the dirt old man?"

Said old man blinked at him. "These flowers won't grow themselves you know."

"Yeah but don't you get tired of doing the same thing all the time." The gardener seemed to think about this for a bit, but finally shook his head.

"Nope I enjoy working with my hands, besides its my job." Luke frowned at that and seeing his look, Pere said. "Cheer up Luke one day you'll find something you enjoy doing."

"I hope so." Luke said. "But right now all I have to do is sit around and admire the scenery." The gardener nodded and straightened.

"Speaking of the scenery." He stopped and gave a wince as a muffled pop came from his back. "I have finished with this part of it, and, if I want to keep my job I should be on my way."

"So were too next?" Luke asked cheerfully and the old man's face fell.

"I'm sorry Luke but all I have left to do is the exterior of the house…" he trailed off. He did not have to say any more. Luke was confined to the manor and wouldn't be aloud to leave for something as trivial as helping to do the gardening.

"Well good day then old man." Luke had been trapped inside the manor too long to really lose his good mood, even if the reminder did leave a nasty aftertaste.

"Good day Master Luke." Pere said tiredly, and with that he tuned and walked away. As he left Luke stared after him wondering what in the score he was supposed to do now.

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As it turned out Luke had been unable to find something to entertain himself. He had finally retreated to his room and was currently trying to stare a hole in the ceiling. Suddenly there was a sort of shooting pain and his head felt like it was going to spilt open. Luke's hands shot to his head in a reflexive motion, as if holding his head would make it stop. Through the pain Luke could make out word.

"_**Luke…fragm….**_

_**...oul… **_

…_**voice…"**_

It wasn't very clear and Luke had absolutely no clue what it meant but as the voice faded into memory so did the pain. Luke lay on the bed for a minute or two just trying to pull himself together. 'Yulia dammed voice!' Luke thought. 'I wonder what it was trying to say.' The only word Luke could remember was 'fragmatovff". What was fragmatovff? He was jolted from his thoughts rather rudely by another voice.

"Luke!" Wait a second! He knew that voice. Luke "What is it? Another one of those headaches?" looked towards the window to see Guy, his friend and servant, sitting on the sill. Guy was wearing his usual ensemble of yellow vest over a white flannel shirt which was in turn was tucked into his dark leggings. Around his waist hung a thick green belt, which Luke knew Guy hung a sword when he went out. Luke quickly pulled himself to his feet before responding.

"It's ok. It's gone." Guy looked at him skeptically.

"You hearing things again?" Luke looked away but nodded.

"I wish I knew what it was. It's so annoying."

"They're getting more frequent. They started after you where kidnapped by the Malkuth Empire. What's that seven years now?" It wasn't a question, not really.

Luke nodded "Thanks to them now I'm going crazy."

"Well don't worry about it too much." Guy hoped off the sill and into the room as he said it. "So what do you want to do today? How about some sword practice?" Luke knew the blond was just trying to get off the subject but he was grateful for it. He was about to accept Guy's offer when he remembered why he was waiting around in the first place.

"Sorry guy, not today. Master Van's here."

"Van?" Guy blinked in surprise. "Today's not a training day is it?" Luke shook his head in response.

"apparently, something came up." Luke said with a shrug. As soon as he had finished there was a knock at the door and both boys spun to look. The knock came again and Guy leapt back up to the window.

"I'm gonna leave now so I don't get you In trouble." He explained, "See ya!" and with a two-fingered salute, he jumped to the ground outside. The knock came again and this time there was a voice to go with it.

"Master Luke?"

Luke turned back to the door.

"come on in its open." As she did Luke noticed that it was the made he had spoken to earlier and made a mental note to find out her name. if Ramdas was sending her to get him she was going to be around for awhile.

"P-pardon me but, his grace requires your presence in the d-drawing room." Her stutter brought him back to where he was and he took a moment to process her words.

" Thank you." Luke said with a smile, "I'll go to see him now you can go back to what you where doing." With a blush that Luke was totally oblivious to and a bow she turned and left the room. A few seconds later, having inspected himself to see if he was presentable Luke followed.

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Luke hurried through the halls to the drawing room. For Master Van to drop by unannounced something big must be going on and he wanted to know what. The guards at the entrance to the drawing room moved out of the way as he passed and Luke nodded to them as he passed. Upon entering he took a moment to see what was what. The main piece of furniture in the drawing room was a long table that sat in a shallow depression in the floor.

Three figures were seated around the table, deep in discussion. The first, at the head of the table, decked out in the finery of his station, red hair pulled back in a loose pony tail. Was Luke's father Duke Fon Fobre. On the duke's right was the lady of the manor, Luke's mother overly worried mother.

Across from lady Fon Fobre sat a large man with drown hair that was tied in such a way that it jutted out form his head in what looks almost like spikes. he sported a crisp military uniform of the oracle nights with its orange highlights and the spikes of rank that when combined with the mans hair had always put Luke in mind of a hedgehog. His face was hard but friendly almost noble.

It was this last face that Luke was happiest to see. This was master Van. This was the man who had been the first not to see Luke as something fragile. It was Van who had taken Luke seriously when he had said he wanted to be trained in the sword. Moreover, it was Master Van not the duke that the young noble saw as the father figure in his life. There had been a time when he was younger that Luke would image Van _was _his father and that Luke would be able to travel the world with him. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts Luke decided to make his presence known.

"Excuse me father, but you asked to see me?" the heads at the table turned to look, and the duke spoke.

"Ah yes, Luke have a seat." Luke automatically steered himself for the chair next to Master van and sat down. After he was seated, he looked up at the General. "Hello Master Van." And then hopefully, "will we be able to get some training in today?"

"I'm sure we'll have time for that later." Van responded with a smile, "however first we Have something important to discuss." He opened his mouth to continue but the duke cut in.

"Dorian General Grants is returning to Daath tomorrow."

"Huh? Why!" the question burst forth even before Luke knew he had said it.

Master Van fixed him with a firm gaze. "As you know I am a member of the oracle knights."

"Well yeah, you're their commandant." Luke said. Of course he knew that he had been listening to Master vans stories of life in the oracle knights for as long as he could remember. Van nodded.

"Right and as leader of the Knights, it is my duty to protect Fon Master Ion."

"The leader of the Order Of Lorelei?" Luke asked.

"The same," the voice was that of Luke's mother. "and it is because of the Fon Master that the truce with Malkuth is in place."

"It may have been his predecessor that ended the Hod War," Van continued for her. "but without the work Ion has put into it the peace would never have lasted this long."

"Has something happened?" Luke asked.

"Unfortunately Grand-Maestro Mohes has informed me that Ion has gone missing." Luke knew of Mohes, he turned up a lot in Vans stories, usually as the antagonist. The man believed that every mention of "conflict" in the score meant a war, and the way Van phrased the response told Luke that the general believed there was more to the story than Mohes had said. That could mean something big. Van was about to go off on another one of his adventures and Luke would be stuck here, But he wasn't about to give up without a fight.

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Vancasdela Grants watched in amusement as the boy called Luke sunk deep into thought. Van could almost see the thoughts move through the boys mind. Suddenly Luke's eyes lit up and he straightened abruptly. The commandant almost groaned as he realized what Luke was about to try. He hoped he was wrong.

"Well then I'll just have to go with you." Damn he was right.

"Luke…" the duke started but the boy cut him off.

"Father this isn't me just asking to go out for the heck of it, the Fon Master is missing! This affects the entire world! How can I just sit around if my not helping could lead to a war?" Van had to admit the boy had come up with some good arguments, but he knew the duke would not be swayed so easily.

"It's not about that Luke." The boy's mother this time, "My brother the king has ordered that because of the Malkuth incident that you be confined to the manor."

"I think that the possibility of a war might be more important then my safety. Surely even uncle can see that! If I could just…"

"**Absolutely not!**" Luke was cut off by the dukes outburst. "I will not ask the king to repeal his decree just because _you_ feel that it might be fun!" Luke opened his mouth to give what was most likely an anger retort, but Van decided to step in to avoid an argument.

"I appreciate the offer Luke, but I have more then enough men to handle the situation. Besides I can understand the kings wanting you to be safe." Luke visibly deflated at that.

"All right, I give," Luke sighed, then turned to Van with a hopeful expression, "can we at least train a bit today before you leave?" The general let out a soft chuckle.

"Why of coarse Luke!" he said, "Get your self ready and meets me in the courtyard." And with that Dorian General Vancasdela Grants politely said he's farewells to the duke and duchess and left.

After managing to get away from his parents, Luke made his way to the yard. What he saw there struck him as odd, Van and Guy where deep in conversation. Luke hadn't even realized they knew each other. He decided to let them Finnish rather then interrupt. However that plan failed when a servant gave away Luke's position with a greeting and the two swordsmen realized he was there. Luke realizing there was no point to waiting around approached them.

"Guy? What's up?" Luke asked as he drew closer.

"Well, Vans a master swordsman, I was asking for some pointers." Something about Guy's explanation didn't sit right, he and van had hardly looked as if they where discussing sword forms. He said so. But before Guy could respond master van called out impatiently for Luke to join him in the center of the courtyard.

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Jeffrey Allen had been a soldier most of his life. He had served in the Hod War and had lost a good friend at the battle of the black waters. When he had been offered a position in the white knights he had accepted in a hart beat. If protecting the Fon Fobre house was were his majesty, the king thought Jeffrey could best serve then so be it.

When he had told his company they had been ecstatic for him, as well as an excuse to eat drink and be marry. Everyone had told stories of how brave the White Knights were, about how they were paid like nobles, and how they always got all the girls.

One thing no one had told him was how incredibly boring it was to stand in a hallway all day. Furthermore it was _hot_ inside the furnace that the white knights called armor. Jeffrey felt his head nod and realized he had almost fallen asleep at his post. He tried to sake himself awake but it didn't work. The heat was just sapping the strength right out of him. He felt himself sink to the floor but couldn't bring himself to care. It was hot and he was tired. He vaguely recognized the sounds of a fonic hymn drifting past but that didn't matter it sounded soothing. Right now all he wanted was to go to sleep, so he did.

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Back in the court yard van was trading blows with the boy. Forcing himself to ignore all but the most obvious holes in Luke's movements, creating fake openings in his own to give the boy something to practice looking for. After a few minutes he used a particularly glaring exposed shoulder to knock the boy to the ground. Luke got up quick as usual, but instead of returning to the attack, he stepped back and lowered his sword.

Recognizing that Luke wanted to talk Van lowered his sword as well, and gestured for Luke to speak.

"What's really going on? With Ion, I mean." Van considered his response for a moment. He couldn't see a reason not to tell Luke, and it might be beneficial to warn the boy off the Grand-maestro.

"Mohes most likely knows more than he is saying about the situation." Van answered finally. "By withholding the reason for the Fon Masters departure the Grand-Maestro hopes that I will be forced into working towards his objectives."

Luke tilted his head to one side and asked "so what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to find Ion and ask him his side of the story" Van replied, "but now we really should get back to your training." He raised his sword into a middle guard and watched as the boy aped him. They would have thrown themselves back into the task at hand if the sound of music hadn't filled the air. Van heard one of the servants say something about a seventh fonist, Van already knew that, he was already scanning the area for signs of the intruder as the first of the guards ringing the courtyard fell asleep.

When the singing started Luke was confused, he felt that he knew the song but couldn't place where. That, combined with the way the way the words flowed together, gave the whole experience a surreal feeling. Next to him Luke saw Van tense.

"that voice!" what, did master Van recognize it too?

It wasn't until he heard Pere say something about a seventh fonist invading the manor that Luke realized what was happening. Of course it sounded familiar, that was a fonic hymn! He had begged Natalia to sing them back when she was first learning. That had been years ago though and he had almost forgotten.

As the song ended Luke heard the scuff of boots on gravel and turned to look. A girl had jumped from the roof and landed in a crouch about two yards in front of Luke and Van. As she straightened Luke took a moment to look her over.

She was about the same age as him with gray-blond hair and… '_Is that an order uniform_?' the thought was driven from his mind when he caught sight of the hook bladed battle staff she was holding.

She yelled, "I've finally found you Vancasdela!" and charged up the short walkway towards Master Van. Luke watched as she drew back the staff for a low slice across Van's stomach and, almost before he knew what was happening, he had moved infront of his instructor to block the blow.

"LUKE, NO!"

Despite them being yelled in his ear, Luke barley registered van's words. He was a bit preoccupied with the odd purple energy now darting between his bokkun and the girls stave. He tried to back up, to break the connection, and found he couldn't move.

"_**Resound…! **_

_**The will of lorelei reach you… **_

_**and show you the way."**_

"Not that dammed voice again!" Luke cursed, at the same time his opponent exclaimed, "The seventh fonon ?!" huh, Luke had thought that was obvious what with the energy from them being visible and all. That was his last thought before a searing pain flashed through him and the world went white. It seemed to go on for hours and Luke wondered if he was dead.

It was around then that Luke realized that he was screaming, and that he wasn't the only one. There was another voice, a girl's voice. He remembered the assassin and wondered what she was doing being dead. It was his last thought before the world-changed color again. This time it went black.

((((((((((((((((((( AN- AN-AN-AN))))))))))))))))))

Wow… I thought I'd never finish. This is my first piece anywhere near this long. i have to say though it was fun to right and I hope you all enjoy it. I wanted to write a piece where Luke acted like I thought someone who was locked his house for his whole life would act. Err… you can probably tell but I could use a beta reader if possible. I'm not sure where the scenes from the maid's and guard's point of view came from but I like how they turned out. Also, I have an omake for you all. It was just a line I put in because I was upset with being interrupted every few minutes but it was funny so I decided to put it here. Thank you for reading -bows-

P.S. is it just me or does fanfic hate the tab key?

((((((((((OMAKE))))))))))

. Luke sighed and closed his eyes in attempt to banish that un wanted train of thought as he tuned away from the phonstones. Thinking about what was out there wouldn't help, it would however make him feel even worse about being stuck in the manor, but what to do to keep himself busy?

Another sigh.

He knew exactly what he was going to do, it was the same thing he always did when he felt like the Brushing golden red bangs out of his eyes, Luke started for the door, quickly checking to make sure that his clothing was acceptable, his black pants where slightly wrinkled but that was ok and his white swallow tail coat was as crisp as when he had put it on. A quick check in the mirror to make sure his long red hair wasn't caught in his sword belt, (he had done that once and received a long talk from the princes about how nobility should take pride in there dress) and he was ready to head out the door into the courtyard.

Or at least he would have if his head hadn't chosen that moment to explode.


	2. Lost and found v2

**Luke's grand adventure**

**Chapter two: we are so lost it's not funny.**

Luke came back into the world slowly. Drifting up towards consciousness on a stream of disjointed thoughts, he slowly became aware of what his body was feeling. His first coherent thought was to wonder if the land-ship had been dropped on him or simply run him over. Every inch of his body was sore, the kind of deep muscle soreness he would get in his arms after training, but all over.

Luke knew from experience that if he just sat himself up. Forced himself to make those first painful motions, he could work the soreness away. At the moment, however it seemed much more enjoyably just to lay here. Now that he thought about it the grass he was on was extremely comfortable. Luke was about to fall asleep again when some one called his name.

"Luke" that voice sounded familiar, " Wake up Luke." Luke sat up and opened his eyes… only to find a pair of ice-blue eyes starring at him from gust over a foot away. With a startled shout, he pushed himself away. "Oh, good, you're okay." She looked familiar too.

"Where are we?" Luke asked, looking around.

"I'm not sure" came the girl's answer. She went on to say something about the planet storm but Luke wasn't really paying attention. He had never seen anything like the sweeping, grass-filled valley he was standing in. of course, he realized, that didn't count for much seeing how he had never been outside the manor. His brain stopped working momentarily as it tried to comprehend the fact that, he, Luke was _not_ in the manor.

As the reality that he was, finally, outside his gilded cage sunk in Luke felt a sense of elation. One that was suddenly and violently squashed as he remembered the events that led up to his (rather painful) escape.

Luke spun back around to face his companion. "Wait, that's right!" he practically flew to his feet. "You tried to kill Master Van!" Luke punctuated his sentence by jabbing and accusatory finger at her.

"oww!" that last came half way between a shout and a whimper as his aching body protested the sudden movement.

"Stop!" the girl reached out to help him back to the ground. "You shouldn't try to move so suddenly." She admonished, and then, "are you injured? Where does it hurt?" now Luke was confused. Why in the seven stones would an assassin care if he was hurt?

Luke pushed away from her and forced himself back to his feet confused and slightly embarrassed at being fussed over.

"I-I'm fine." He shook his head trying to figure out what was going on, "who are you?" a pause "and what the hell was that light? What happened?" the girl didn't miss a beat.

"I'm Tear. It would seem that a hyper-resonance occurred between us."

"A hyper-resonance!?" It came out more exclamation than question but tear felt the need to elaborate anyway.

"An isofon-induced resonance." She explained, "I was careless. I didn't expect you to be a seventh fonist too." As Tear talked she leaned towards Luke, as if trying to get a better look at him. Luke, in return, leaned back, trying desperately to regain his personal space.

"that would explain why the royal family is protecting you."

Luke stumbled backward a few steps as he was forced to lean just a little too far, and took a moment to regain his balance before responding.

"Or at least it would if I was a seventh fonist, which as far as I know I'm not."

Tear shrugged, bluntly ignoring the red head's sarcasm. "It could be that you simply haven't discovered your talent yet. I find it surprising that a member of the royal family would go untested for so long." she turned to look up the valley and for the first time Luke noticed a trail leading away from where they stood.

"In any case we should try to get moving, we won't get anywhere if we gust stand here." Luke looked around.

"Yeah, but where?" We don't even know were we are."

"I'll escort you back to your manor in Batical."

"NO!" Tear tuned back in surprise and gave him an odd look. "I mean… that isn't really necessary. Besides even if you did help me get back there won't exactly be a warm welcome for you, not after how we left." Tear seemed to think about this, then nodded slowly.

"Yes that's most likely true, but it's my fault that you were taken from your home, I have to take responsibility for my mistakes."

Luke wasn't sure how to tell Tear he really didn't want to go back. She was willing to put herself in an extremely awkward situation by helping him back to the manor, and well… with all she was doing for him it felt wrong to tell her.

"But what if I don't want to go back?" it came out as a whisper, not meant to be heard, and then louder, "how are we going to get back if we don't know where we are?"

"Stop and listen." Tear replied. Luke did, and the faint sound of running water reached his ears. "Hear that?" at his nod she continued, "It's a river." Luke just looked at her, and then made an overly rapid looping motion with his hands in hopes of getting her to continue.

Surprisingly, it worked, and with a resigned sigh, she begin again.

"If we follow the river eventually it will either cross a road or flow into the ocean." She looked strongly pleased with herself as she said it and Luke couldn't help but wonder if she enjoyed explaining things, "when that happens we follow either the road or coastline until we reach a city. Then we should be able to figure out where we are."

"Is that how it works?" that plan sounded like it had a few holes in it to Luke but who was he to comment? He had never been out side before so what did he know? "Well then after you." He said, gesturing for Tear to lead the way.

It wasn't a bad night for a walk, the air was cool, with a light breeze. The nearly full moon made it easy to see where they where going. All that along with the almost musical sounds of the river made for a beautiful setting. The kind of thing Luke had always imagined lay out side of the manor. To bad for him, he was too lost in thought to really appreciate it.

Luke followed a few steps behind Tear as they walked, his eyes fixed on her back. He wasn't sure how he felt about the would-be assassin. On one hand, she had, even if it was an accident helped Luke escape the manor. On the other, she had tried to kill Master Van.

She had tried to kill the man Luke saw as a father, but Luke found he couldn't hate her for it. After all if she hadn't he would still be _locked_ up in the manor.

As he walked, he found himself wondering why Tear had wanted to kill Van in the first place. He was just about to ask when the girl in question held up a hand, signaling a stop. Luke looked around but couldn't find anything.

"What is it?" Tear's response was short and not very helpful, but it did put Luke instantly on his guard.

"Monsters…" suddenly the forest valley didn't seem so inviting. The cool air now felt clammy, the soothing breeze became something breathing down the back of his neck, and the moon light that and so lovingly lit there path now cast shadows which could hide any sort of abomination.

Luke drew his bokkun and nervously began scanning the surrounding bushes. He didn't have to wait long. there was a rustle up ahead and Tear let out a warning shout.

"here they come!" and come they did, or rather it did. A large creature looking like a cross between a boar and a rhino charged out onto the path just feet from where Tear was standing. The brunet managed to jump aside in time but that left the pig-thing with a straight shot at Luke.

"Ahhhhh!" with a panicked shout Luke lashed out with his bokkun. The charging monster couldn't quite turn in time and the blunted training sword came down hard on its left flank and sent it rolling away.

Angry now the beast shoved to its feet and charged Luke again. When it was about half way to him there was a flash of light and a sickening whet crunch as a hooked blade scythed its way into the top of the monsters skull with enough force to send fragments of bone and brain flying. The pig-thing's momentum kept it going even as its legs gave way, sending it sliding forward along the ground in a sort of tumble.

In its anger at Luke the monster had forgotten about Tear and, because of that, it had died.

((AN: holy cheesecake! did I actually just write that? A bloody, dramatic death for the weakest monster in the game? If my fight scenes are like this, should this be m?))

Luke looked on in shock as Tear freed her stave from the creature's skull with a yank that made yet another unpleasant noise. She looked over her shoulder at the young noble.

"Are you alright?" Luke could only nod, but the spell holding his feet was gone, and he moved to join her next to the remains. He was still rather unnerved by the whole experience. He took a moment to look at the monster's remains. Now that he wasn't in a fight for his life he thought he recognized it from one of the books Natalia would bring him, but for the life of him he couldn't remember the name, So he decided to ask Tear.

"hey what is this monster called anyway?" she looked up at him.

"Fluffy" she had said it with a cheerful smile that looked out of place on her normally stoic face. Luke just stared at her hoping she was joking.

"What?" she asked when she caught his stare, "I thought it looked cute!"

"You _named_ the monster." Luke deadpanned. Tear seemed to be put off by that.

"Is there something wrong with that?" she tilted her head to the side as she said it giving her a cute, confused expression.

"…and then you killed it." Luke said. Tear blinked at him.

"Yes, that's what you're supposed to do to monsters your fighting." She said it in such a mater of fact way that Luke couldn't help but laugh. "What?" Tear asked indignantly.

It just made Luke laugh harder, and as he laughed, he couldn't help but feel grateful towards the girl. With out even trying she had broken the tension and suddenly the monsters didn't seem so frightening.

------Luke---------

forty minutes and seven fights later Luke definitely wasn't afraid of monsters. He was downright annoyed with them. He was busy scraping the romance of the last monster of his bokkon (this one had looked like a blue turnip with legs.) when he remembered the question he had wanted to ask Tear.

They had finally reached the river and had decided to take a brake. Tear was sitting on a large rock next to the riverbank, feet dangling over the water. She looked up as Luke sat down beside her.

Luke sat there for a moment trying to decide how to fraise the question.

"Are you going to tell me why you planed on killing Master Van or anything?" Tear sighed in response and looked back out over the water.

"Not really, my reasons are my own and I doubt you'd understand them if I told you" she gave him a nervous glance and pressed on. "I don't think you're incapable of understanding, but I'm not sure if my reasons would make since to you."

Luke leaned back, propping himself up on his hands. "I get what you're saying," he shook his head. "It's just…" he paused looking for the words, "Well you don't seem like a bad person to me... but you show up at the manor and attack Master Van." Another pause, this time filled by his sitting up again.

"I guess I'm just not sure what to think about it." Tear tilted her head to the side so she was looking over her shoulder at him, and met his eyes.

"I don't intend to harm you if that's what you mean." Luke smirked at that.

"No I pretty much figured that out after the third time you used first aid on me. I just want to know why anyone would want to kill Master Van." Tear stood abruptly as he finished speaking, and for a moment, Luke was worried that he had pushed to far.

"We should move on. If we stay to long in one place we'll attract monsters. We can talk more about this later." And with that she started walking. Luke rose with a slowness born of disappointment and followed after.

He had meant what he had said. People didn't try to assassinate other people without a good reason or at least Luke didn't think they did. He hadn't known Tear for long but the impression he had got from her was that of a well meaning if slightly stoic, person.

For some one like her to want to assassinate van, she must have been absolutely sure it was the right thing to do. That scared Luke, the kindly Commandant had practically raised Luke since his kidnapping and Luke had thought of him as _the_ example of honor and integrity. If Van had done something so horrible that Tear wanted him dead for it… how much did Luke know about the man, really?

He didn't want to believe Master Van would do something like that. He also couldn't imagine the girl he had fought alongside and laughed with, the girl who had healed his injuries at the end of each fight as the type of person to go around killing innocent men because she felt like it.

From out of the branches above the path, another of the turnips jumped at Luke, who lashed out and knocked it out the air.

"There's more than one of them!"

Luke didn't really care how many of them there where. For the first time that night, he was happy to see monsters. They helped him keep his mind of Master Van.

-----later------

Luke poured the gald into the hidden pocket in his coat lining, and then dropped the wooden box back to the ground before sending an inquisitive glance at Tear.

"Why in the world is there a chest lying around anyway?" Tear finished reorganizing her item pocket before responding.

"I honestly don't know. Perhaps someone dropped it after being attacked by monsters." Luke looked around for another chest. When one failed to materialize the duo moved on, still talking.

"Yeah?, but who drags a heavy wooden box through a forest full of monsters?" suddenly a thought struck him. "You don't suppose the monsters use chests, do you?" Tear gave him an odd look and was about to reply when a noise drew there attention to the path ahead of them.

As the sounds drew closer Luke moved a hand on the hilt of his bokkun ready to strike down whatever monster came charging out. However what came round the bend was no monster it was a man carrying a bucket.

"UAHH!"

Make that a man who had dropped his bucket. He seemed rather more afraid of Luke and Tear then he reasonably should be.

"D-don't tell me your with the Dark Wings!" Luke and tear exchanged a look at that and Luke shrugged. It was Tear asked.

"The Dark Wings?"

"They're bandits. Two men and a woman" The man looked at Tear, then at Luke, and then back to tear again before repeating the process, buy the time he had finished most of the fear had left his eyes. "Wait there's only two of you."

((an: I would love to have a joke about his needing several minutes to count to two but couldn't figure out how to do it.))

Luke snorted, "hey now, don't go comparing me to some lowlife bandit!"

"Yes, you might upset the bandit." Tear's words had flowed so naturally into the conversation that it took Luke a moment to realize what she had said.

"HEY!" Luke spun to face her so fast that he almost lost his balance.

Then he blinked in surprise.

"Did you just make a joke?" Tear ignored him when the two of them realized that the man had picked up his bucket and was now slowly edging back the way he had come.

"Don't worry we're travelers not bandits." The man visibly relaxed at that, and Tear continued. "we lost our way and wound up here. What about you why are you here?"

"I'm a coachman" the man replied, "one of the wheels on my coach started acting up, because of that we lost our drinking water when the jug fell off." He held up the bucket, "so I came here to get some more."

"A coach! Perfect!" Luke couldn't help but smile, that was a lucky brake, even if a coach would get them back to Batical faster. Luke had never walked this far in his life and his feet hurt.

"Do you go to the capital?" apparently Tear had the same idea he did.

The coachman nodded, "yeah that's my last stop."

"Let's hitch a ride!" Luke sent a pleading look at Tear, "my feet are killing me."

"That's a good idea, we don't know this area very well." She turned to the coachman, "would that be alright with you?"

The coachman's eyes lit up as the words left Tear's mouth, and she didn't like the look of the sly grin that etched itself onto his face. Tear knew that look. It was a type of look that only merchants could give. Merchants that _knew_ they had something you wanted and were planning on milking you for all you were worth, _and then_ taking an arm and a leg.

Or both legs. It depended on what had the higher resell value really.

The point was, as soon as Tear saw that look she knew the coach to Batical was going to coast them dearly.

"To the capital? hmm." The man pretended to be doing some quick math in his head, Tear didn't buy it for a minute. "it'll be 12,000 Gald a piece. You got enough on you?"

"that's expensive…" tear decided to try and haggle him down a bit only to have that idea blown out of the water by her redheaded companion.

"Really? Sounds cheap to me." The noble boy put a hand on his hip in a gesture that came off as somewhat arrogant. "my father will take care of it when we reach the capital." The coachman promptly turned down the offer, as Tear knew he would.

It took all her self-restraint to stop from berating Luke for ruining her attempt at lowering the price. It wouldn't be fair to expect someone who had lived like him to understand how things like this worked. There was no use for it she would just have to pay for there ride with her mothers pendant. She was about to reach for it when a voice stopped her.

"Here, this should cover it." She looked up to see Luke holding up a rather ornate golden pocket-watch, a rather large ruby embedded in the cover. For some reason Tear felt uncomfortable with this, she had stolen Luke from his home and now _Luke _was paying for their ride back but before she could say anything though the coachman had already plucked it from Luke's hand.

"Wow, this is some watch. All right, hop aboard." And with that they where off.

-----still later-----

Luke watched as the landscape slid by. He had been staring out the coach window for hours trying to focus on the scenery. It was hard sense his mind was elsewhere and it didn't help that he hadn't had any sleep. He kept replaying the conversation with Tear last night in his head.

Almost as soon as the cart had started, forward Tear had jumped down his throat about paying with the watch. Luke had tried to explain that it was the only way to pay the price of getting to Batical.

Tear had told him that the watch had been worth easily three times what the coachman had asked for. He had tried to explain how it had been a gift from a visiting lord he had never actually met and wasn't really important to him.

For some reason that had just made Tear more upset with him. In the end they had just stopped talking to each other and Tear had fallen asleep, leaving him to brood. He hadn't been able to sleep after that and had eventually resorted an attempt to see as much of the world as possible before he went home.

Across the table from him came movement and a moment later Tear sat up.

"So you're up huh?" despite his tone Luke was glad she was awake. He had felt after there argument last night and wanted to make things right again, but he wasn't sure how. His conscious told him to suck it up and apologies but he didn't even know what he had done to upset her.

They both sat there in an uncomfortable silence. Neither quite able to meat the others eyes, until finally…

"I'm sorry." Suddenly there eyes met, both with slightly shocked expressions. They had said that at the same time. Luke was going to say something but bit down on it when Tear started first.

"it was hypocritical of me to reprimand you for paying with something so valuable when I was about to do the same." Luke smiled softly at her overly formal way of talking; a Tear who talked like everyone else, he decided, would be to strange.

"Don't worry about it. Like I said that watch didn't mean anything to me, its better this way then to have you pay for a trip I don't even want to make." Luke flinched, that last part had slipped out unintentionally.

Tear's eyes narrowed "what do you mean by that?" Luke fidgeted uncomfortably as she said it.

"I…well…" Suddenly he couldn't seem to figure out exactly what he wanted to say, he felt extremely nervous, he didn't want to lose tear as a friend. Luke decided to try and make her see what he was feeling.

"Imagine… just for a minute, that you're the only chilled of an extremely well off Chesidonian merchant. Now imagine that you have over protective parents, that for as long as you can remember everyone around you treated you like you where a porcelain doll." Luke met Tear's ice blue eyes for the first time since he had started his little speech.

"you've never been allowed to leave your family mansion. You've never even seen your front yard, and then one day you somehow find yourself out side miles and miles away from your home. You have a chance to see the world you've always dreamed about. How would you feel about going home?"

Tear's eyes had softened sometime during his rant and he hadn't noticed. Her head was tilted to the side in a way that Luke had come to realize meant she was curious about something. "So you don't want to go home?"

"Of course not!" Luke half yelled, then in a quiet almost ashamed voice. "But… but there are people who care for me back home, Mothers probably worried sick, it wouldn't be right to just leave them!"

By the time he had reached that last part his voice was firm. It felt good to say that. He had been arguing with himself sense waking up in that clearing about what he should do, how he should feel For some reason giving voice to his feelings, trying to explain them to Tear, had crystallized his thoughts. Suddenly it wasn't so confusing any more, he knew exactly what he should do, and it felt good.

"I think I understa…!" Tear was cut off by what sounded something like thunder and for a moment, the coach was filled with red orange light.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" in an instant Luke was leaning out the window trying to figure out what had happened.

He had the feeling he would never forget what he saw for the rest of his life. It was coming toward them, almost straight on. A large metal boat was firing bolts of fonic energy at a stagecoach not unlike there own.

"Hey! That coach is under attack!" almost as soon as he said it his view was blocked by a mass of gray-brown hair. Luke panicked for a minute and then realized Tear had simply stuck her head out the window in front of him to look, and the wind was blowing her hair into his face.

"The army's chasing those bandits!" two sets of eyes turned to look up towards the top of the coach. Apparently, the Coachman had heard Luke's shouts from his place in the driver's seat. "It's those Dark Wings I mistook you for!"

Luke wondered idly if the dark wings actually existed or if the man was just paranoid. Honestly, they had been traveling for almost 7 hours, and this was at least the fifteenth time he had mentioned them.

Suddenly a loud, static laden voice filled the air. "You there! Move your coach before you get caught in the cross fire!"

It wasn't until Luke felt the coach slow to a stop and pull off the road that luke realized the voice had been talking to them. He looked back to what he now realized must have been a Land Ship. From the looks of it, it was going to pass with meters of them.

This was going to be interesting.

-------Lt. Damien Abramoff-----

Being stationed on the Tartarus was considered the fast track to success and as far as Damien could tell, it was true. Only two months after being transferred to the third division and the Tartarus he had already been promoted to bridge officer and was acting as personal assistant to the colonel himself.

It was an odd, powerful feeling, being at the controls of a dreadnought. All that power and the authority that came with it was intoxicating. He watched with a small smirk of satisfaction as the civilian Coach moved out to the Tartarus' way. Just as he had told it too.

Behind him there was the sound of the bridge door sliding open and the lieutenant crashed to attention as his commanding officer entered.

"Sir!, We are closing on the enemy vehicle at 20 knots." He sent a glance at the civilian coach. There was a passenger coach earlier but we ordered it to get clear."

"I see. Very well Abramoff, your dismissed." The colonel made a shoeing gesture with one hand as he finished his order, then turned to the rest of the bridge.

One of the gunnery officers chose that moment to speak up.

"Commander! The enemy has crossed Rotelro Bridge! They're putting gun powder on the bridge!" Damien didn't like the sound of that however the colonel sounded cool as usual.

"My, my. They intend to drop the bridge, do they?" coming from him it didn't even really sound like a question.

"Fon slot activation detected!" Another officer yelled, and yet another picked up where he left off.

"They set off fonic arts using the fifth fonon! The bridge is going to explode!"

"Tartarus, full stop. Activate fonic barrier." Even shouting that order the man didn't sound the least bit fluster, it was rather inspiring. Damian had returned to his station by now and began the process of powering the barrier.

"yes sir!, Tartarus full stop!" Damien heard the acknowledgement, and added his own a moment later when the barrier read fully charged.

Then his work done for the time being he turned to look out the front view-port. There was a bridge about to explode and if he couldn't stop it, well… he sure as hell wasn't going to miss the fireworks.

------Luke------

Luke could feel the wind from the land ship's passage, and felt that if he had wanted to he could reach out and touch it.

Luke couldn't take his eyes of the exchange between armored warship and tiny coach. It was amusing to watch in the same way that watching a man try and slice butter with a battle-axe would be fun to watch. Looking at the two it seemed like overkill in the extreme, but the man with the axe never quite got it right.

A minute later he was treated to a rather impressive explosion as the people in the coach detonated the bridge. For a moment, Luke thought the warship was going to run into the newly created ruins of the bridge. At the last second however it came to a screeching halt, an odd orange glow covering its bow.

For some reason Luke felt relived and disappointed at the same time. Pulling his head back into the cabin, he sat down with a thump.

"Whoa! That was so cool!" he blushed slightly in embarrassment as his voice rang in the sudden quiet. Fortunately the coachman seemed to agree with him.

"Wow! That's Malkuths newest land dreadnought, the Tartarus!"

so, it was called the Tartarus well it certainly was cool looking. Maybe if… suddenly Luke's train of thought hit a curve to fast, jumped the tracks, and slid down the mountain into a village killing hundreds of imaginary people.

Had he just said _Malkuth's _newest dreadnaught?

"Ma-malkuth?! What's the malkuth military doing way out here?" Luke stammered, already halfway into full-blown panic.

The driver didn't seem to understand why he was worried. "What do you mean? Of course they're here." The man said it as if Luke was some sort of idiot. "There's been no end to the rumors that Kimlasca's going to start a war any day now, so they've tightened security in this area."

"wait a minute. This isn't Kimlasca?" Luke felt like slapping himself. Of course!, the hyper-resonance had carried them out side Kimlascan territory. Just a moment befor he had been having a panic attack, thinking that Malkuth had invaded, or that somehow they had sent a fully armed Land ship to kidnap him again… it sounded stupid to even think that now.

The coachman laughed "what are you talking about? This is the Malkuth empire, the West Rugnica Plains."

Suddenly Luke had a thought. "Does that mean we're not headed to Batical?" across from him tears eyes widened in realization.

"nope," the coachman sounded almost cheerful, " Grand Chokmah. Capital of Malkuth and home to his majesty, Peony the ninth." With his growing annoyance, Luke couldn't help but think that the man was just a tad long winded.

Tear spoke up again, "hmmm… I was mistaken."

Luke was frustrated, annoyed, and yes just a little bit scared at being in Malkuth, and he lashed out at her without thinking. "How can you be so calm about it?! How could you make a mistake like that?!"

Tear glared at him "I didn't recognize the area. What's your excuse?" Luke raised an eyebrow at that.

"Trapped in a mansion remember? I've never been out side!" tear looked like she was considering what to say to that but the coachman broke in.

"You two are sure acting strange. Are you Kimlascan?" Luke wasn't sure what to say to that, it was a good thing Tear could think on her feet.

"N-no we're from Malkuth. We have business in Batical. We where on our way there." Luke Didn't know who the girl thought she was kidding but apparently the coachman bought it.

"That's the other direction then." He explained, "if your going to Kimlasca you should have taken the road south, rather then crossing the bridge."

Luke gritted his teeth "you mean the bridge that was just _blown up._" His tone was lost on the coachman.

"Yep. That's the one. Mind you with the bridge out you'll have to go the southern route." He stopped to think for a second. "were going to be passing engrave in a bit… I could let you out there or we could keep going to the capital."

"SHUT UP!" Luke was really mad now. "Don't you go trying to ditch us! I with how much I paid you, you should be offering to take us straight to the boarder!" Ok so maybe Luke was still a _tiny bit_ upset at having paid 3 times the going price. "We paid for a trip to the capital, so that's where we're going!"

"LUKE!, if we go all the way to Grand Chokmah, we'll just wind up farther away!" Tear scolded, and as much as Luke hated it he was forced to take back his words. She was right after all.

"Aghh! Fine! Take us to Engeve but Yulia help me you'd better drop us of _at_ the inn!"

"Okay, then here we go!" Luke would have sworn the man sounded cheerful about it!

That was when Luke decided he hated coachmen.

((((((((((A.N.))))))))))

and here is the rest. Thanks for waiting. I hope you enjoyed my writing and I ask that you review. Haha! still think Luke is too nice oh anonymous reviewer? As for my spelling errors as I said in the first chapter I need a beta. A big thank you to those who did review already, and while I do accept unsigned reviews, it makes it hard to ask you stuff if I want to work on what you've pointed out. I'm just rambling now so, goodbye!


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